The new Live365 software has a built-in rule which is intended to help you create robust, versatile ClockWheels. However, this means that you can only apply one track Category tag for each media type. 


ClockWheels are a key module of our Dashboard software that lets you easily schedule events which contain similar elements that occur at the same time or in the same sequence. A ClockWheel can be thought of as a template script for generating many playlists, and then those playlists as events. A ClockWheel can be created using Media Types and Categories as entries. Each line of a ClockWheel template is an entry.


Media types are a Live365 file type, a way of organizing the tracks in your Live365 Library. Media Types are different from Categories (formerly called Tags). The current Media types are Music, Talk, ID, Ad, and Promo. In order for a track to be played within your station's program, it has to have a media type defined.


Track Categories (Tags) are user-defined, whereas Media Types are "static", defined by Live365. A track can have multiple Categories (Tags), but it can only have one Media Type.



Important note: Only one media type can belong to each category for use in ClockWheels


While attempting to create and schedule a ClockWheel to air on the Live365 station, you might encounter the following error message:


Category "x" has Tracks 

with different Media Types assigned.




This error occurs when a specific Category from your ClockWheel (in our case "Mixed Media Types") has tracks that are different Media Types. In other words, there are mixed IDs, Promos, Talk, or Music tracks under the same category tag.

Let's "zoom in" and see what is causing this message to show up for this station.

Here, we see the 4 lines of the ClockWheel template. 



When we look at the media library and sort by the category called "mixed media type", we see that there is a mix of Music and Promo files using the same category tag.



This is what is causing the error message to pop up. The ClockWheel module is restricted from generating a tracklist when there is more than one media Type sharing the same Category. This is intentional, as it helps to ensure you get a better mix of tracks from your ClockWheel templates.


In this case, you would have to create a different category (for example "Mixed Media Types Promo"), assign the Promo file(s) to the specific category, then add it as a separate entry to the ClockWheel:



This restriction is meant to prevent the same Media Type files from accidentally playing back-to-back within a scheduled event. Using a single Media Type per category within a ClockWheel gives you, as a broadcaster, full control over what is intended to be aired and in which order. This restriction helps to ensure a great listening experience for your audience.